The Growth Blog - Chronicling the Growth of the Sport of Lacrosse

Augustana College To Add Men's Lacrosse, Hires Head Coach

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Augustana College (IL) has announced the addition of Men's Lacrosse to their sport offerings for the 2012 season. They have also found their first Head Coach in Muhlenbergs Kyle Hart. There has, for some time now, been speculation that Augustana would add Men's Lacrosse, partially because of a job posting on NCAA.org, as well as the buzz around their addition of a Women's Lacrosse program several months ago.

Posted in: Coaching Hires,College,Division III,Illinois

Why A Trial in Connecticut About Cheerleading Could Affect Lacrosse

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Two years ago Quinnipiac University cut Women's Volleyball and added (the much less expensive) Competitive Cheerleading in it's place. The women's volleyball team sued and the end result will essentially decide if in the eyes of the law competitive cheerleading is a 'sport' rather than an activity. Several schools, Maryland for example, have Competitive Cheerleading as a varsity sport. Like the sport of Women's Crew, Competitive Cheer is of relatively low cost to operate, but more importantly to athletic administrators, these teams maintain a large roster size which helps with Title IX proportionality. While a small number of schools have added Competitive Cheer to their varsity sport offerings, and some have considered it, it is likely that growth of varsity cheer has been slowed by it's lack of NCAA Emerging Sport status and the ambiguity of its 'sport' label.

This outcome will be important to the sport of lacrosse because when and if a university considers adding the sport of Men's Lacrosse, they will likely plan to add a women's varsity sport as well. That women's sport may not necessarily be Women's Lacrosse, especially if the school already has the women's game at varsity status. The option to add a women's sport that is in high demand, has low cost, and maintains a large roster size could make the decision to add Men's Lacrosse a little easier on university administrators. Regardless, allowing Competitive Cheer to be considered a varsity sport seems like a win-win; more female athletic opportunities, and the potential to assist with some much needed growth on the mens side of D1 collegiate athletics.

Posted in: Cut Sports,Division I,Gender Equity,Viewpoint

New Professional Lacrosse League Announced

Friday, June 25, 2010

A somewhat unexpected announcement earlier this week was made when a new professional indoor league known as the Arena Lacrosse League (ALL) was introduced at a press conference in Norfolk, VA. Teams are currently being considered in the mid-atlantic region, and a somewhat strange aspect of this league is that it will be non-profit. The league has said they envision themselves to someday be a minor league for the NLL.

The formation of this league does raise some basic questions. Is lacrosse popular enough to support 4 professional leagues (MLL, NLL, LXM, ALL)? Does the NLL really need a minor league? Is the indoor game in itself popular enough to support a second league? Only time will tell but one would think that the ownership of this league could receive better exposure, and help better grow the game, if they invested their money in expansion teams in the more established MLL or NLL, rather than try to launch something this ambitious. But who knows, maybe this league will be truly successful, or maybe it will get as far as NLL Outdoor.

Posted in: Professional,Virginia